You might’ve read earlier this week that scientists are getting promising results in using blood tests to determine if a person has suffered a concussion. If you missed it, here’s a good summary from the Washington Post’s Ariana Eunjung Cha. This new way of screening for concussions is both amazing and much-needed. I’m not here to bash the science or the development behind it, but I’d like to point something out that seems to be missing in most of the talk of this breakthrough, at least in the NFL world. I suspect that no player would willingly give a blood sample.
Think about this from the standpoint of an NFL player. The players union (NFLPA) has a very specific set of rules over how frequently a player can be drug tested, and there is a clear outline for the procedure. Yes, I understand that a blood test for a concussion should not be testing for performance enhancing drugs. These are different things, I get it. But, in the collective minds of the players and the union, do you think that they would be comfortable giving blood samples that could in theory be used to test for banned substances? Unless there was a bullet-proof system hammered out and agreed to by the NFLPA, there is no way a player would voluntarily give a blood sample which could reveal so much more than simply a concussion diagnosis.
In case I didn’t make it clear, I’m 100% in favor of the research. We need every test, treatment, and solution in regards to concussions. In this case, the problem I see is everyone’s knee-jerk reaction to think that this particular test might be applicable to the NFL. In the current NFL, it seems like there’s not much upside to blood samples.
Even setting aside drug testing, would players submit to a blood test they can’t bluff their way out of like a concussion sideline examination? Would teams even want them to (e.g. if the results would potentially force them to rest a star player they really don’t want to)?
100% agree that this is in no way an argument for not developing these tests, but they are VERY important issues when considering how to translate the test from lab bench to sideline bench. Great points.